Australia's Cobham Aviation set for first EMB-190

Australia's Cobham Regional rebrands to National Jet Express

Cobham Aviation Services Australia - Regional (Adelaide) has confirmed its rebranding to National Jet Express (NJE) five months after the acquisition of the business by Rex - Regional Express (ZL, Wagga Wagga) sister firm Rex Freight and Charter Pty Ltd (RFC).

The NJE airline brand is over 30 years old but fell into disuse after a rebranding to Cobham Aviation Services Australia in 2009. NJE is a separate entity to the Qantas Groupwned National Jet Systems (NJS). When RFC finalized the acquisition of NJE in September 2022, the airline said it would revive the NJE brand.

Acquired by the US-based private equity firm Advent International in early 2020, Cobham Group was operating two distinct but successful businesses - a special missions arm that primarily operated surveillance flights for the Australian government, and an ad-hoc and contracted fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) charter business. In 2022, Advent sold off the special missions business to Leidos and the charter business to Regional Express who paid AUD48 million dollars (USD32.3 million) to...

Virgin Australia/Alliance Airlines FIFO JV faces shutdown

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has indicated it will withdraw permission for Virgin Australia (VA, Brisbane International) and Alliance Airlines (QQ, Brisbane International) to continue operating a charter alliance agreement that facilitated cooperating, coordinating, and jointly bidding for fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) work.

In 2017, the competition regulator okayed the agreement but following a May 2022 application by the airlines to extend it, the ACCC has now issued a draft determination and opposes the agreement continuing.

"The ACCC is not satisfied that the public benefits likely to result from the charter alliance agreement in the next five years will outweigh the public detriment that is likely to result from Virgin Australia Regional (VARA) and Alliance Airlines coordinating their FIFO services,” ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said. "The ACCC is not satisfied that the public benefits claimed to arise from combining Virgin Australia’s charter fleet and national regular passenger network with Alliance Airlines’ national charter network are likely to result from the extension of the agreement to the extent claimed by the applicants."

Australia's Rex cautiously okays Qantas/Alliance Air merger

Rex - Regional Express (ZL, Wagga Wagga) says the proposed takeover of Alliance Airlines (QQ, Brisbane International) by Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) would not result in a significant lessening of competition in the Australian charter and fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) aviation market. Normally a fierce critic of attempts by Qantas to increase its share of markets, Rex's surprisingly mild response was contained in a September 7 submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The ACCC has the power to block Qantas' takeover bid on antitrust grounds.

Qantas, which has held a 19.9% stake in Alliance Airlines since 2019, launched a bid in May 2022 to acquire a 100% stake. Alliance Airlines is a major player in the lucrative mining and resources charter and FIFO sectors. Qantas and its subsidiary business units, QantasLink and National Jet Systems, also have existing interests in this market.

In a statement of issues released in August, the ACCC said it had significant concerns about the proposed takeover. As part of the decision making...

US's GLOBALX eyes ex-Volotea B717s

GLOBALX (G6, Miami International) has posted a job ad for B717-200 pilots and is looking to add ten ex-Volotea (V7, Asturias) aircraft of the type, Dutch aviation news site Scramble has reported.

The charter specialist is seeking pilots type rated on either the B717 or MD80 Family aircraft for "the initial cadre for the B717" fleet. It did not provide any further details regarding service entry dates for the type, its fleet size, or prospective bases.

Sources indicated that the airline is likely to lease ten ex-Volotea B717s from BCC Equipment Leasing. The Spanish carrier retired all aircraft of the type in 2021 to focus on its A320 Family fleet going forward. The ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows Boeing's in-house lessor owns thirteen ex-Volotea B717s, currently in storage at Victorville. Volotea continues to own four more stored at each of Ciudad Real (three) and Verona (one).

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows that the B717s remain in operation with just three airlines:...